1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to peer-to-peer networks, and more specifically to manipulating arbitrary resources of peers in the peer-to-peer network.
2. Description of the Related Art
Currently, a client can access resources through a server over a network. For example, FIG. 1 is a prior art diagram illustrating a client 140 accessing resources over a network 130. A server 110 interfaced by a proxy server 120 provides access to multiple resources of the server 110. The resources can include a central processing unit (CPU) 112, a memory 114, a disk 116, and a printer 118. Typically, the client 140 requests access to a resource, such as the printer 118 and the proxy server 120 either grants or disallows access. When granting access, the proxy server 120 permits the transmission of the request to the server 110. An exemplary request is printing a document transmitted from the client 140 to the server 110.
In a Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA), a repository of objects operating on the proxy server 120 can provide access to the resources on the server 110. Thus, although it appears that the client 140 is accessing the physical resource, such as the disk 116, the client 140 is only provided a virtualized interface to a pseudo-device driver managing access to the device 116. Consequently, when the client 140 requires access to resources on the server 110, the client 140 accesses a physical proxy server 120 or communicates with middleware, such as CORBA. In each access method, the client 140 is only given virtualized access to the resource, instead of full control of the resource.
Accordingly, what is needed is a method and an apparatus for enabling access to resources, while bypassing the need for a proxy server or pseudo-device drivers.